Zaki notched the opener when he cunningly dispossessed Agger in front of the box to go one-on-one with Jose Reina before sliding the ball past the advancing keeper.

"It was between Pepe Reina and Daniel," the Spaniard told the Liverpool's official website.

"Daniel was not waiting for the pass and then he had to dribble quickly because Zaki was there."

"But his reaction was very positive. He kept going forward and created the first goal."

The Egyptian hitman Amr Zaki spectacularly put his team ahead twice in Sunday's clash, but eventually Benitez's men snatched a hard-fought victory.

Benitez said he told his players they should make things easier for themselves to keep pushing for the Premier League title.

"We started the game really badly. They were winning a lot of second balls and controlling the game. We started to get better but then they got the second goal."